Assad sympathizers hack BBC Twitter account

LONDON (AP) — Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad appear to have hijacked the Twitter account for the BBC’s weather service.

The hackers identified themselves as members of the Syrian Electronic Army, a group that has carried out a string of web attacks against targets such as Al-Jazeera, which it sees as sympathetic to Syria’s rebels.

A series of messages posted by the BBC Weather Twitter account on Thursday ranged from political to anti-Semitic to comical. One read “Long Live Syria Al-Assad,” while another said: “Saudi weather station down due to head on-collision with camel.”